Selfhosted

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A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

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When building a home server, could a used/cheap PC do the job? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 year ago by SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world

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I've never done any sort of home networking or self-hosting of any kind but thanks to Jellyfin and Mastodon I've become interested in the idea. As I understand it, physical servers ("bare metal" correct?) are PCs intended for data storing and hosting services instead of being used as a daily driver like my desktop. From my (admittedly) limited research, dedicated servers are a bit expensive. However, it seems that you can convert an old PC and even laptop into a server (examples here and here). But should I use that or are there dedicated servers at "affordable" price points. Since is this is first experience with self-hosting, which would be a better route to take?

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[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Because as a headless server it's likely to sit hidden for a long time. This and the always being plugged in is not good for lithium-ion batteries. If/when it starts ballooning will you notice? It's a fire risk.

UPSes use typically lead-acid batteries like a car.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I should have thought of that. Thanks! Ironically, I have a very old lead-acid UPS in the basement that I've been kind of afraid to plug in again after all this time.

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can typically replace the battery inside the UPS (and should every few years). Looking at $40-50USD for "official" replacements, less for questionable third party ones.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'll check and see if I can do that with this one!